The Other Search Engines

**celife** · 08-21-2008, 06:56 PM

1. What do you think the chances are of this being stopped due to anti-trust issues?

2. Will this create more bid competition for Yahoo Marketing's Sponsored Search and Content Match...or Sponsored Search only?

3. 80% of my ppc traffic comes from Yahoo. 20% comes from Google. My concern is that because I'm more "Yahoo dependent", this merge may have a serious impact on my traffic due to increased bid competition (if I bid above $2.00 I don't get a positive ROI). Anyone have an idea as to how much Yahoo traffic will be lowered? 10% 50% 75%. It may be too early to tell, but I'm trying to prepare in advance.

Thanks,
Chris

**vangogh** · 08-21-2008, 08:07 PM

Hard to know if the deal will be allowed, but I suspect it will go through. I think some advertisers may end up moving more to Google's AdWords since it will provide more coverage on both Yahoo and Google. Some will see no reason to manage campaigns on both.

I'm not sure if the bids would necessarily go up. If enough people leave for Google there's less competition through Yahoo. However since ads will be displayed from Google then Yahoo bidders will need to compete with Google bidders, which likely will drive up prices. It's hard to know exactly what will happen until things happen like you said.

One thing you might consider doing is digging deeper into your keyword research. I'm not sure how many phrases you bid on, but you may find some longer tail phrases that cost less so you can keep your positive ROI.

You could also work harder converting more of the traffic the ads are driving.

**celife** · 08-28-2008, 08:30 AM

thanks vangogh. i appreciate your input

**vangogh** · 08-28-2008, 08:10 PM

Glad to help.

**Learning Newbie** · 08-28-2008, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vangogh

Hard to know if the deal will be allowed, but I suspect it will go through.

For context, the internet and 2 (?) US states don't have sales tax. (That's getting a bit muddy on the net, but it's still "use tax" and usually self filed, so "on your honor".) We seem to play under special rules on the net, and they're written to favor large businesses.

PS - That's the Joe Biden (long winded) way of saying VanGogh is right, as he usually is.

**celife** · 09-17-2008, 11:59 PM

The situation seems to have changed since I first posted about this. Anyone have further insight on the Yahoo-Google ppc ads plan going through? The news stories seem to be indicating that Google may be challenged on antitrust issues.

**vangogh** · 09-18-2008, 07:33 PM

Chris they were challenged from shortly after the deal was announced. That's the main reason you haven't seen the ads on Yahoo yet.

The latest news item I saw mentioned Google was planning on going ahead with the deal in mid October regardless of whether or not regulators have reached an agreement at that point. Google had voluntarily agreed to hold off until then while regulators reviewed the situation.

It's possible the current Google stance is mostly aimed at getting regulators to make a quicker decision than they seem to be.

My guess is still the same and at some point you'll see Google ads on Yahoo, but that is a guess on my part.